The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Midnight Sun Run is a road running event, held annually since 1983 in Fairbanks, Alaska, that attracts participants from across the United States and from around the world. The race takes place on the third Saturday of June each year, starting at 10 pm with the boom of a cannon that can be heard throughout Fairbanks. Despite its late evening start, there is no need for streetlights or flashlights, as the summer solstice sun shines brightly from start to finish and beyond. Proceeds from the race benefit Fairbanks Resource Agency and local student athletes through scholarships. In recent years the race has attracted over 3,000 participants, due in part to its special feature of running under the light of the midnight sun. Course The Midnight Sun Run, which has started at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Patty Center ever since the event's debut, winds through a number of Fairbanks neighborhoods and along the Chena River, and finishes at Pioneer Park. Despite the late hour, spectators line the streets to cheer the runners onward. Temperatures ranging into the high 70s and sometimes even into the 80s in the dead of night can be a bit warm, especially for entrants from northerly latitudes, so to avoid overheating many runners are hosed down by residents along the race course. Race history Close to 350 runners participated in the inaugural Midnight Sun Run, which started at 9:05 a.m. the morning of June 25, 1983, rather than at midnight. The course was slightly different from what it is today, finishing in downtown Fairbanks at the corner of 11th and Turner. Kent Karns was the first runner to cross the finish line, with a time of 32:28. Tricia Livingston was the first woman finisher, with a time of 40:29. The founder and race director in the event's early years was Mike Styles. The Midnight Sun Run became an actual midnight sun event in 1984, when the start time was moved to 10 pm. Elite runners Tom Ratcliffe and Ron Gilooly recorded the first and second fastest times in the race with times of 29:14 and 29:19, respectively, records which still stand today. In 1986, top Californian marathoner Nancy Ditz won the women's division, while elite American marathon stars Benji Durden and Pete Pfitzinger dominated the men's field that year. In 1987, Scott Williams and Gary Fanelli, dressed impeccably as the Blues Brothers,